Day 4: Wuxi-Hangzhou

Time flies fast as Day 4 commences with a visit to the pearl factory. Wuxi apparently produces many fresh water pearls, a kind of cultivated pearl with nucleus that comes in various shapes. We bought nothing here, perhaps more modern sophisticated ladies prefer diamonds over pearls nowadays. I was quite bored by this trip to visit the factory to be honest.

Lunch as usual which was OK but the dinner was rather "undelicious", see the big ultraman sign behind.

After lunch we went to a bazaar or some sort, heck I don't even know the name of the place sorry la. But anyway our self proclaimed pro photographers managed to get some nice HDR shots together with pretty neat casual pictures.

You get the chance to see the dare devil in me when I attempt to chew off the spicy looking rabbit head, plus we had the bamboo rice.

But the highlight for Day 4 is none other than "The Performance of the Romance of the Song Dynasty". The Song Dynasty ruled China from 1127 to 1279, moving their capital to Hangzhou in 1129. Thus, in dedication and honour to their thousands of years of history, the city council made a RM25 million investment to create this grand singing and dancing arena in the city of Hangzhou named the Song Dynasty Town. They have performances everyday.

When we arrived, there were already tens of buses parked outside and hundreds of people lining outside the gates trying to get in the city. The performance started with a some light entertainment by two clowns which is then followed by an acrobatic act of the "Legend of the Monkey King." 

The opening scene which I guessed is "The Birth of The Civilisation". This scene showcases the early history of humans in neolithic times where superstition played a major role before the arrival of religion.

Then came the second scene "The Banquet Dance in the Song Palace". Here we were thrilled with an intricate & exceptional traditional costumes of the emperor and empress, palace officials and entertainers all dancing to the tune of ancient Chinese music.

The third scene was "The Battle". It portrays the well-respected and famous General Yue Fei, a honourable and loyal general of the Song Dynasty who was eventually killed in action. The scene depicts many violence with battles made into dances and real horses running across the stage at one point. It also brags real cannons, arrows and old gunpowder bomb blasts. It looks & sounds real so it should be real ma.

Next scene was big contrast to the violent battle, it was "The Beautiful West Lake and its Beautiful Tales." Long time legends such as "The Lady White Snake" and "The Butterfly Lovers". There were performed brilliantly by talented ballet dancers which is accompanied by sweet, sorrowful music. Legends were bought to life in this scene of love, betrayal and sacrifice. The scene was made wonderfully with the help of water fountains, blinding laser lights, mist and at one point we were surprised when drizzling drops of water falling all over the theater like rain.

Towards the end, there were many other scenes of lush green forests with lily dancers, beautiful moonlight, a kind of rojak "mixed" costumes dances. In all, it was an amazing show, worthy of praise and thunderous applause. It was a well worth RM140 :)